Machine for applying bottle-seals.



0. WINTER.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING BOTTLE SEALS.

APPLICATION IILEI) DEC. 30, 1908.

1,013,351. Patented Jan.2,1912

2 SHEBTSSHEET 1Q COLUMBIA PLANOGRAFH (10., WASHINGTON. n. c.

witness as 0. WINTER.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING BOTTLE SEALS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. so, 1908.

1,01 3,35 1. Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

26' [29.3 .I. k a i \i i! I I 32 8 38 {l qwbfweooc oz cjvwamfo UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES WINTER, OF WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO STAR SEAL COMPANY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK. I

MACHINE FOR APPLYING BOTTLE-SEALS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES WINTER, a citizen of the United States,residing in \Voodbury, county of Gloucester, State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for ApplyingBottle-Seals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for applying bottle seals to bottles,and particularly to a machine of this character which is power driven.

The object of my invention is to simplify the construction and mode ofoperation of such a machine, and particularly to do away with thecustomary compensating devices attached to the seat on which the bottleis placed and designed to prevent breakage incident to the variation ofsize of the bottles.

In a hand or foot operated sealing machine the extent of movement of thesealing head may be controlled by the operator, and

therefore ifa tall bottle is to be sealed he? does not force the sealinghead down as far as he would with a short bottle. excess pressureencountered in these machines is not great and may be taken care of inthe sealing head itself. On the other hand, in a power operated machine,if the sealing head is rigidly mounted, as in a manual machine, theextent of movement of the head is always the same and therefore avariation in the height of the bottles results in a variation in thedegree of pressure exerted thereon by the head. In the case of a largebottle there would be an excess of pressure which might break thebottle, and for that reason it has been customary in all sealingmachines in which the sealing operation is performed by direct pressureas distinguished from a spinning operation to have compensating devicesin the seat for the bottle for the purpose of absorbing the excesspressure. By my invention I dispense with the compensating devices inthe base for the bottle by having. my sealing head yieldingly mountedwith respect to the driving mechanism, so that the movement of the headwith respect to the bottle will automatically stop as soon as itsexerted pressure reaches a certain point, no matter what the size of thebottle may be, and fur- Hence the;

stood to be as follows: The bottle seat being ther movement of thedriving mechanism will be taken up in the yielding mounting of thesealing mechanism.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation partly insection of a complete machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is avertical section on an enlarged scale of the sealing head and itsmountings. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

l is a driving pulley loosely mounted on.

the shaft 2, and 8 is a clutch keyed to the shaft 2 and adapted toengage the pulley at the desired time. The shaft 2 is mounted in a longbearing 4 and carries at the end away from the pulley a crank 5, throughwhich crank 5 and the link 6 and the rod 7 the sealing head 8 and itsmountings 9 are reciprocated. The bottle 10'is placed on a seat 11mounted on the side of the main frame 12 of the machine. The height ofthe bottle seat may be adjusted by releasing the thumb screw 13 andscrewing the seat up or down to the desired point and setting it thereby the thumb screw. From this general description of the machine, itsoper ation, broadly considered, will be underadjusted to the desiredposition, a seal is placed in the sealing head and the bottle to besealed placed on its seat. Power being continuously applied to thedriving pulley, the clutch is operated to cause the crank5 to. make onerevolution, which draws the sealing head down over the bottle to sealit, and then raises the sealing head out of the way so that the bottlecan be removed.

The sealing head proper consists of a casing 8 in which there is a chuckor seal holder 14, a seating plunger 15 and a bending plunger 16. Theseal holder and the seating plunger are backed by springs 17 and 18respectively, which springs abut against the under side of an annularenlargement 19 at the upper end of the bending plunger. The bendingplunger is backed by a spring 20, which spring abuts against ,a plug 21having journaled in'its upper end a roller 22. When the sealing head isbrought down over the bottle, the seal holder is forced up against thespring, and the seal 23 is released. Further movement of the sealinghead forces the seal into the bottle and the seating plunger seats ittherein. The seal Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

sealing head itself is nearly or entirely exlever fulcrumed on a pin 26rigidlly The key 33 in the rod 7 cooperates with a? holder and theseating plunger are thus forced up into the casing until the top of theseal is forced up against the bending plunger and the flange of the sealbent into locking engagement with the bottle. In the bending operationthe spring 20, which is stronger than the springs 17 or 18,, is used,and a certain amount of excess movement of the sealing head will betaken up in this spring. The amount of excess movement, however, whichcan be taken up in this spring 20 is limited, and therefore it isnecessary to provide additional means for this purpose in case anunusually large bottle is being sealed. I accomplish this object by anauxiliary spring 24, which is brought into play only when the elasticityin the hausted. When the spring 20 in the sealing, head is suflicientlycompressed, the plug 21 and its roller 22 are forced up against the.

mounted in the carriage whichcarries the: sealing head. The other end ofthis .lever, 25 bears against a roller 27 in a plug 28,; which bearsagainst the topof the spring? 24. From this it will be seen that anyeX-i cess movement of the sealing head which is. not taken care of inthe sealing head itself will be taken up in the auxiliary spring 24.?The strength of the spring 24 may be adjusted to a certain extent bymeans of the plug 29 and the set screw 30. I

A screw cap 31 permits the removal of. some of the workingparts of thesealing; head without disturbing its mountings. The; sealing head andits mountings are rigidly; connected to the rod 7, as by the nut 32.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cent;

groove in the frame of the machine to guide the sealing head.

V The details of the clutch and the mechanism for operating the sameneed not be here described in detail beyond'stating that when the footlever 34 is depressed, the clutch 3 and consequentlythe shaft 2 areconnected to the pulley during one complete revolution and thendisconnected, so that 'When the operator is ready to seal the bottle hemerely depresses the foot lever and holds it down ,until the sealinghead has been brought down over the bottle and returned to its originalposition, when he releases the lever preparatory to another operation.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: l v

1. In a machine for applying seals to bottles, a sealing head,comprising'a seating plunger and a bending plunger, a spring, and alever interposed between said sealing head and said spring adapted totransmit excess pressure from said sealing head to said spring.

2. In a machine for applying seals to bottles, a sealing head,comprising a seating plunger and a bending plunger, a spring,

transmit excess pressure from said sealing head to said spring.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day ofDecember, 1908.

CHARLES l/VINTER. Witnesses:

FRANCIS B. DAVIS, HALLA'cx A. PENROSE.

each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. l

